The Highway to the Kentucky Derby introduced by Woodford Reserve will cease at Turfway Park this weekend for a $175,000 stake. John Battaglia Memorial Stakes A 1 1/16 mile course for 3-year-olds on Turfway’s all-weather monitor. The John Battaglia Memorial is price a complete of 42 Derby factors distributed among the many high 5 finishes on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale and serves as a prelude to the 100-point Jeff Ruby Steak in March. This 12 months’s version had a complete of 12 entries within the discipline, plus one eligible entry.
Here is what the sphere seems to be like from the rails.
Avenue Beast, a well-liked horse with a 5-2 file within the morning, was led by coach Ben Colebrook on the inside put up and ridden by common rider Luan Machado. After ending fourth within the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar, the colt Avenue Sense completed his 2-year-old season with a gate-to-wire within the Leonatus Stakes at Turfway, the prelude to his 3-year-old debut. Metal Imperium got here from the again of the pack to win by 4 lengths and earn an Equibase Velocity Determine of 91 in his profession debut at Turfway just some weeks in the past. Maximus Prime, the one maiden within the discipline, can be operating for the sixth time below coach Anthony Mitchell since she started her coaching profession with the late Larry DeMerritt. Kilo Tango, the primary of two Brad Cox-trained rivals, earned his first win in his third profession begin in his final outing, which was additionally his first strive on Turfway’s all-weather monitor. Baytown Dreamer received on the grass at Ellis Park in July and completed third within the Smarty Jones Stakes on dust at Oaklawn Park in early January, however this can be his first time racing on an all-weather floor. Educated by John Ennis, Time for Cash received on the grass at Churchill Downs in October, making this his second begin at Turfway after ending fourth in his earlier outing. Atfield is contemporary off a 1 1/16-mile victory on grass within the Central Park Stakes at Aqueduct, and this can be his first time competing on an all-weather monitor. Ricardo Santana Jr. retained the mount following his earlier victory. Nice White, additionally skilled by John Ennis, received his debut at Turfway on December twelfth and completed fifth in his earlier race, the Leonatus Stakes. After beginning his profession with two wins from two races, Cease the Automotive completed seventh within the Lecomte Stakes on the Fairgrounds, ridden by coach Brendan Walsh. Educated by Ethan West, Ace Honor has simply received back-to-back races on turf, together with his final race, the Bob Bork Texas Turf Mile Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park. Full Effort is the second favourite on the morning line at odds of 3-1 and can be the second horse skilled by Brad Cox to enter. He completed second in Avenue Beast within the Leonatus Stakes final day out in his first try at an all-weather monitor after 4 consecutive begins on turf. Two-out Hero received his profession debut by 12 lengths on the all-weather monitor at Woodbine, then scored within the Hovering Free Stakes and completed third within the Bet365 Summer time Stakes on Woodbine’s turf. He can be making his first begin outdoors of Canada below coach Kevin Attard and as soon as once more ridden by common rider Rafael Hernandez. Smalltown, additionally a colt and eligible, earned his first profession win in a six-furlong dash at Turfway on January 10 for coach Michael McCarthy.
Evaluation and most important candidates:
He’s listed because the third selection on the morning line with a file of seven wins and a couple of losses. two out hero In September’s Summer time Stakes at Woodbine, he positioned third by only one size, presenting a stable stake. Two Out Hero, who scored an attention-grabbing profession debut victory over six furlongs in July, adopted up that effort by successful the Hovering Free Stakes by a size and a half whereas stretching to 6 furlongs and 6.5 meters on turf. Within the course of, he improved his equibase velocity numbers from 83 to 90. Argos, who positioned third in that race, returned by defeating two-out Herro within the Summer time Stakes. Though unable to safe victory within the Summer time Stakes, Too Out Herro carried out admirably in his debut two activates grass, briefly taking command within the straight, earlier than going off the rail and being caught late. The 2-out Herro earned a career-high 94 Equibase figures on this effort and continued to enhance his numbers with every begin. Two Out Herro joins John Battaglia after coming off a layoff of about 5 and a half months. Nonetheless, coach Kevin Attard has received at a 22% clip with horses coming back from 60 to 180 days of relaxation. Attard has solely made 4 profession begins at Turfway Park, however his most up-to-date begin on the racetrack was a winner within the My Charmer Stakes in late December, received by Caitlin Helgurtnes. Two-out Hero has confirmed appropriate for racing on all-weather tracks, displaying his versatility by successful on the entrance and chasing, and successfully dealing with two corners within the heavyweight firm. We anticipate a lot of the betting consideration to be targeted on Avenue Beast and Fulleffort, so Two Out Hero gives worth on this spot whereas benefiting from class aid.
With all my would possiblyA half-brother to G1 winner Energy Squeeze, he has proven regular progress all through his profession and comes into this race having improved his Equibase velocity determine for the third 12 months in a row, ending second to Avenue Beast within the Leonatus Stakes and incomes a 93. Though Full Effort settled for second place, he was shut at a good tempo early on and will profit from each a extra sincere pacing situation and an extension to 1 1/16 miles for John Battaglia, who received in a commanding method on the Keeneland turf in October. The son of Liams Mapp started his profession with three turf one-mile begins, ending fourth and third at Ellis Park earlier than successful the Equibase Velocity Determine of 86 at Kentucky Downs. He adopted up that effort with the aforementioned allowance possibility, successful by 5 lengths at Keeneland and bettering his 90 equal base velocity numbers. Leonatus marked Full Effort’s first begin on an all-weather monitor and achieved a great consequence regardless of approaching a sluggish tempo. The stallion is ranked second on the Battaglia monitor with a late tempo score of 103.0 and advantages from robust connections from coach Brad Cox, who has received 29% of all-weather races at Turfway (128 runners) over the previous three years and completed within the high three 63% of the time. In his second begin on the Turfway course, Full Effort seems to be able to take one other step ahead.
There aren’t many velocity horses operating in Battaglia, so avenue beast He seems to be in a great place to manage the tempo, as he did along with his gate-to-wire win within the Leonatus Stakes at Turfway final day out. He has been surprisingly constant in his profession, ending outdoors of Ekuta solely as soon as, and that was the aforementioned fourth place on the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Avenue Beast debuted in August with a second-place end within the Ellis Park turf dash, then broke out with an Allowans win at Kentucky Downs. Later, within the Juvenile Mile S, which was additionally held at Kentucky Downs, he achieved an awesome rating of seven horse lengths in his first try on the route. The bay colt earned a career-best (and finest within the discipline) velocity determine of 102 equal base within the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and posted a 95 equal base velocity determine at Leonatus after being downclassed. In that race, Avenue Beast set the tempo, posting average first half occasions of 24.15 seconds and 48.54 seconds, and held comfortably to win by one size. Will probably be John Battaglia’s first begin over the mile, however Avenue Beast’s established tactical velocity and confirmed class will make him a key issue as soon as once more. He has been sharp on the all-weather Keeneland since his latest win and plans to make use of his subsequent alternative to overcome this discipline in all-weather to safe a profitable journey.
The remainder of the sphere has the best Equibase Velocity Determine in comparable races. metal imperium (91), maximus prime (93), kilotango (84), baytown dreamer (82), time for cash (85), at discipline (91), nice white shark (87), cease the automotive (91), Ace’s Honor (98), and small city (87).
Beat candidates in precedence order:
two out hero
With all my would possibly
avenue beast
